Dario Bottinelli

A professional football player from Argentina, Dario Bottinelli plays as a midfielder with a taste for playing in the hole behind the strikers. Known as The Chicken, or El Pollo, Dario began his playing career at Club Atletico San Lorenzo along with his brother, Jonathan Bottinelli. Dario broke into the first team in 2005 and over the next two seasons, played about half the total number of the club’s games and scored 2 goals.

He moved to Racing Club in 2007 but spent the entire year playing just one game for the first team. The following year, Dario was sold off to Universidad Catolica in Chile, where he was part of the team that played in the Copa Libertadores. He helped the team win the 2008 Taca Santa Maria as well as the Taca Ciudad de Osorno titles, while scoring 3 goals in 6 games in the Copa Libertadores.

His 12 league games produced 5 goals and Dario was on his way to the Mexican club, Club Atlas. Spending two regular seasons as the first choice striker, Dario played almost 60 games in all competitions and scored 11 goals before moving back to Chile, on a loan spell, to complete the year 2010. During that loan spell with Universidad Catolica, Dario helped the team win the 2010 Primera Division title and was picked up by Flamengo in 2011.

In 2011, Dario scored 5 goals over 43 appearances in all competition, ensuring that Flamengo would win the 2011 Taca Guanabara and Taca Rio titles as well as the Rio de Janeiro State League title. Although his number of appearances have fallen, in 2012, Dario is a regular member of the first team squad.